$3-billion foreign investments expected this year

MANILA, Philippines - As much as $3 billion in foreign investments in the business process outsourcing, electronics and energy sector are in the pipeline this year, Trade undersecretary for investment promotion Cristino Panlilio said yesterday.

He said $1.5 billion to $2 billion is expected to come from Europe. If the investment commitments are signed this year, the companies would be able to operate in two to three years.

“We are supporting them in registering their investments in the BOI (Board of Investments),” said Panlilio.

He said that from a major electronic company from Asia and another one from the US—the names of which he declined to give for now— have committed to set up operations in the Philippines.

“We are just fixing up a few legal snags to get them,” he said.

Panlilio said the electronics sector is expected to rebound this year. Because of this, the government is engaging 10 foreign contract electronics manufacturers to encourage them to set up operations in the Philippines and one of them, Taiwan-based Wistron to expand their operations in the Philippines.

Wistron, which has a manufacturing facility in Subic Freeport, produces semiconductors for global electronics brands Acer Inc., Sony, Dell, Microsoft, Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard. The company also has manufacturing facilities in China, Czech Republic and Mexico.

The other companies are Foxconn/Hon Hai (based in Taiwan), Flextronics (Singapore), Quanta (Taiwan), Compal (Taiwan), Inventec (Taiwan), Jabil (US), TPV Technology (Hong Kong), Celestica (Canada), and Sammina-SCI (US).

Panlilio said that worldwide, the electronics industry has a $300 billion market worldwide.

“It is a sad development that only one of the top electronics assemblers have operations in the Philippines. We are making this initiative to convert 70 percent of our electronics exports which is components and spare parts into the higher value assembled units exports,” he said.

Director Fe-Agoncillio Reyes of the BOI Investment Promotions Group (IPG) said that during the first quarter of the year, foreign investment interest is strong in IT-BPO, manufacturing, tourism, agriculture, renewable energy, and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects.

She said companies from Malaysia and Thailand are particularly searching for office spaces for IT-BPO operations.

“Right now, many ASEAN companies are coming for those sectors,” she said.

She said that in the manufacturing sector, the Philippines is becoming a destination for the manufacture of leather goods. She said luxury brand Coach recently opened in Pampanga.

Foreign investment interest also continues to be strong in the mining sector but in the absence of the executive order on mining and the moratorium on the issuance of permits for new mining projects, the government cannot actively promote investments in mining.

“For now we are lying-low on mining. We are not promoting it now because there is an absence of clear-cut policies. It will be very difficult for us to promote it. We will find ourselves red in the face when they come here and we cannot provide them permits,” he said.

He said only existing mining companies could be engaged in talks to expand their operations.

Mining is still included in the 2012 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) because it is mandated by law but the IPG cannot invite more players.

“But there is interest. Almost one in five inquiries are in mining,” he said. Some of the interested parties are from Australia, China, and Chile.